I know i said i'd be doing weekly updates but my feet get super swollen when i sat down so i went and bought a laptop but I already gave birth! Complications arose but my baby is safe, still in the hospital, hopefully will get discharged today so i can finally take him home, but now that i don't get swollen to the point where i feel like daggers are stabbing my feet I will be updating more frequently! Especially since i'm on maternity leave :3 without further gabbling, here's the chappie!
Shuichi looks out the many windows of Mukuro's moving fortress. Yusuke noticed him and smirked.
"Kurama! What are you doing here all alone?" Yusuke said, hitting his backside.
"You startled me Yusuke." Shuichi said and continue staring out into demon world. Yusuke looked at the same direction, not really paying attention to demon's world never changing landscape.
"Well Kurama, I know you're never a guy for long talks but I gotta ask, what's with the long face?" Yusuke asked.
"What do you mean?" Kurama answered.
"I mean, I don't know, you just look lonely I guess. I was just wondering what's on your mind." Yusuke asked, Kurama took in a big breath and let it out.
"I have a lot of things on my mind right now. I would never think that I would be back in this position again. I only thought that I'd continue in the Demon Tournament simply for pleasure sake, but now here we are, rescuing the world again, but this time I'm doing it out of my own volition. I can't let these extremists get away with what they're doing." Kurama explained.
"That's what you say but all I hear is, 'I can't let anything happen to my girlfriend.'" Yusuke snickered. Kurama's eyes narrowed and Yusuke visibly sweat dropped.
"Yusuke, please don't mention that again, I have enough time trying to control myself around her." Kurama said.
"So you admit it then?" Yusuke said slowly, not wanting to test the waters too much.
"If you must know Yusuke, I am in love with Naota, but I am not like you. I do not want a relationship with her, not now, not ever." Kurama said. Yusuke looked at Kurama with worry. His face looked to be in pain.
"Not like me? What do you mean?" Yusuke pressed on.
"Yusuke, you are a human-demon hybrid and yet you still carry on with Keiko. You do know that you will outlive her eventually, your demon blood won't allow you to age along side her. You will be forced to see her end of days while you still have to carry on. Even if you do have children with her, we still do not know whether they will carry on your genes or hers, you may be forced to see your family die in front of you, slowly, but surely. I cannot bear to think that one day I might lose Naota to the test of time, I do not think I can bear it." Kurama said, clenching his fist. Yusuke looked out to the landscape, thinking about what Kurama said. After a long stretch of silence, Kurama sighed.
"I am sorry Yusuke. If I offended you-"
"Kurama, I know that one day I'll have to see Keiko die. You didn't think I didn't know. Sometimes the thought comes and goes but still, I love Keiko. Even though I might live to where I'll still be looking young and she'll look like an old hag, I'm not afraid. I want to be with her, that's good enough for me. One thing's for sure though, our children will have my demon energy. Like Raizen I think I can pass on my demon stuff to them too, or at least I'll try. So even if Keiko dies, a part of her will still be inside me. And who knows? She might be reincarnated again, and we can do it all over again." Yusuke said with a smile and Kurama smiled with him as well.
"I admire your strength Yusuke." Kurama said.
"So then why don't you do the same?" Yusuke said and Kurama's smile dropped.
"You may be strong Yusuke, but I do not think I have the same strength as you do, I am just too scared of seeing her pass." Kurama said.
"So you rather want to her die young here in demon world instead of letting her grow old?" Yusuke retorted.
"No of course not!" Kurama said.
"Then? What's gonna hurt more? Letting her die in the next tournament, or letting her live long enough where you see the woman you love in someone else's arms?" Yusuke asked. Kurama looked away towards the floor and Yusuke let out a big sigh.
"Look Kurama, don't make the same mistake I almost did. Think about it." Yusuke said walking away. "Oh and don't forget pacifier breath wants to talk with us with Mukuro, so once you're done, get your butt moving." He left Kurama to his own mind, which is not really the best place to be at right now.
00000
Naota looked at Hikaru's sleeping form, her idea of wanting to erase her memories plaguing her. 'I don't want her to suffer again, as long as she knows me and Shuichi, she's just gonna get caught up in this, if…if I could just…' Naota reached toward Hikaru's forehead and rested her hand on top of it. 'It could be easy as this, just focus and-'
"Naota?" Hikaru said softly and Naota quickly removed her hand, Hikaru's eyes blinked slowly, trying to get used to the light.
"Hey, how you feeling?" Naota asked.
"Tired, how long have I been sleeping?" Hikaru asked her voice a bit hoarse.
"Almost a day, but that's not surprising considering what you went through, do you remember?" Naota asked.
"I remember almost drowning and a big castle, and you going all weird but not much after that." Hikaru said, sitting up. "Where are we?"
"In a moving fortress owned by one of the ex demon kings Mukuro. We'll be going back to human world in a bit so don't you worry." Naota forced a smile.
"What's wrong?" Hikaru asked. Naota clenched her fists and tried to put on her happy face but found that she couldn't.
"Hikaru, wouldn't it be easier if you never knew me?" Naota asked. Hikaru looked at her with confusion. "If you didn't know me you wouldn't be in this mess, fighting for your life, almost being killed, and it's all because you know me and Shuichi, if you didn't know me, none of this would've happened."
"So, you're my friend, and besides you saved me." Hikaru said.
"But still, if you weren't my friend you wouldn't have been caught up in this mess! It's my carelessness that allowed this to happen, if only you didn't know me-" Hikaru slapped Naota. Naota slowly cupped her red cheek in her hand and stared at Hikaru in shock.
"Don't be stupid, I want to be your friend, it's been this way, just now it's the other way around. I can't protect you anymore and now you protect me, but even then, we're still friends after all these years. You really want that to end? Well I'm sorry but I'm not about to let that happen so unless you kill me, you're stuck with me!" Hikaru shouted at her. Naota started to tear up and let a few escape her eyes. "You're my friend and I love you, I won't leave."
"I'm sorry, I just got so scared, the fact that I could lose you because I'm so weak, it hurts so much. Why couldn't I stop this from the beginning, I just was thinking selfishly, I'm sorry, I'm really sorry." Naota said through sobs.
"Look at you, stop crying, it's ok alright? Or should I call Shuichi to dry those tears for you?" Hikaru said, smirking slyly.
"No!" Naota shouted.
"Then stop crying you dummy." Hikaru said, knocking her fist softly on Naota's head. Both started smiling and then laughing. "But anyway, I'll be fine, you're fine, we're both fine. So don't think anything useless ok?" Hikaru asked and Naota nodded. She stood up and dusted off her pants.
"I need to get going, we're going over all the info that we collected so far. After that Koenma is gonna take you home, we're not taking any chances again with you." Naota laughed slightly.
"Alright, I'll be here bored out of my mind while you go do your thing, maybe I'll take a nap." Hikaru said, lying back down into bed. Naota took one last look at her and went out. Naota found out however that trying to find your way in a fortress seemed to be impossible. 'Crap, I knew I should've drawn out a map or something, I'm so lost right now!' She thought, looking down the hallway and not knowing where the meeting place could be. 'Well at least it seems to be going straight, but I'm not sure if that's good or bad.' As she kept walking she finally saw a familiar patch of red hair, she started running, wanting to catch Shuichi before his figure left her sight. As she got closer she noticed his sad turned to her as she ran, and she smiled and waved before stopping a bit before him.
"Hey Shuichi, this place is a big maze! Thankfully I found you." Naota said and Shuichi nodded. "Are you ok? Are you feeling well?"
"I am fine, just thinking." Shuichi said.
"About what?" Naota said. Shuichi looked at her dead in the eyes and Naota looked away, feeling a bit timid under his stare.
"There is to be a meeting with Mukuro and Koenma, we should get going." Shuichi said, walking down a nearby hallway.
"O-ok." Naota stuttered, feeling a bit flustered that Shuichi stared at her for so long. She tentatively reached for his shirt and he looked at her. "Ah! Sorry, it's just that, I don't want to get lost again?" Naota said and bit her lip when she realized it came out as a question. Shuichi nodded silently and kept going. Naota felt a pang in her heart. 'Is Shuichi really alright? He's never this quiet, and when he is, he's smiling. What happened?' Naota silently thought until they came upon double doors. Shuichi opened them and everyone was there, minus Hikaru. Shuichi and Naota sat down on a couch provided for them. Naota looked at the person at the head in what appeared to be large beanie bag couches. She had short hair half of her face covered with cloth and a large monocle, you can see the skin was warped underneath it. She had a kind smile on and Naota thought that this must be the ex demon king Mukuro.
"I'm so glad to see everyone is finally here." Koenma started, standing next to Mukuro. "As you all know, we have just witness two generals in our recent mission, Mukuro and Hiei are here to give us information about the last general, Mukuro?"
"Thank you Koenma. In recent times here in demon world there has been a large gathering of demons calling themselves Revolutionaries, leaded by a young demon called Akio, I still have not seen him physically, he remains a mystery but I do know of the last General. His name is Inugami." Mukuro got out a remote out of nowhere and pressed a button. A monitor appeared behind her showing what appeared to be a young man with a cocky grin on his face. He had tanned skin, long black hair and wolf ears on his head. He wore a black fighting uniform with a long scar appearing on his chest.
"He loves to have duels with various demons but recently demons who fight with him and lost must follow the revolutionaries or risk getting killed by him. He has recruited thousands of demons this way, but even though they have been recruited, it's mostly by force, none of the demons actually are loyal to him or their cause." Mukuro explained.
"And now we know all four of them Tanya, Yuu, Satoru, and Inugami." Koenma said.
"We also know by my infiltration that they have put out a cease fire on the spirit detectives. I am lead to believe that they plan to train for one year until the tournament starts again." Yasu said from the wall.
"So what do you want us to do?" Yusuke asked.
"Get stronger of course, or do you still need permission from Koenma to do that Yusuke?" Hiei said.
"Shut your mouth tiny! We know we got to get stronger!" Kuwabara shouted and Hiei hn-ed.
"Train as much as you can, this coming year. The demon tournament will be our shot at taking these Generals out, and maybe their ringleader will also fight in the demon tournament. He will make himself known, it's during that time that we should do whatever we can to stop him." Koenma said. "Kurama, you have trained others before, I leave Naota in your care." Shuichi nodded but Naota looked confused.
"But Koenma, Yasu was always training me, why the change?" Naota said.
"Yasu will still be in recon, giving us information on our enemy and their movements, for that he will be part of their ranks and won't be able to train you if he's going back and forth from the human and demon world. Don't worry, Kurama has trained people before you, he will make sure you at least reach low A class status once the tournament begins. Good luck to all of you, hopefully we wont' see the world ending soon." Koenma said.
00000
Naota felt the breeze and shivered, following Shuichi to a mountain training pass where he trained other demons before. She is in awe of the tall peaks that surrounds her. Walking in front of her was Shuichi, opening two big double doors intricately designed. She walks in getting away from the strong winds. Inside was a big empty room with a bunch of columns. 'Wow, where did this place come from?' Naota wondered.
"This is where we will be training. I have trained various of my friends here before the first demon tournament and raised them to regular A class demons. Hopefully my training will do the same to you." Shuichi said and Naota nodded. "But before I go on, I think it's time for introductions."
"Well it's about time!" A voice shouted from behind Naota, scaring her into hiding behind Shuichi.
"Good going Chu, it seems like you scared her."
"Oh! I'm sorry Sheila, didn't mean ta' scare ya."
"Either way, your voice is still too loud." Naota eyes adjusted a bit when some lights came on.
"Naota, I'd like to introduce you to some of my friends, Chu, Touya and Shishiwakamaru."
"Who would've known that the new spirit detective would be so cute?" A big burly man with a purple mohawk said.
"Aren't you together with Natsume? I don't think she'll be happy to hear you flirting with someone else." A young man with blue eyes, strands of greenish hair in front of his eyes said with slicked blue hair.
"Let him be Touya, who said you can't take more than one?" A man with pink eyes and blue hair with two strands standing straight up said. Shuichi laughed at them and Naota went to stand beside him.
"They will be helping you train as well as some others who have yet to arrive." Shuichi explained.
"So you gonna be workin' us to tha bone again Kurama?" Chu asked.
"Yes but I'll also be needing your help to train her to A class level." Shuichi said, motioning to Naota.
"I'm sorry I got scared but, my name is Naota Yukino, pleased to meet you." Naota said, bowing. Chu laughed boisterously and wrapped an arm around her.
"Don't be so formal sheila, we're all here for the same thing, to get stronger." Naota sweat dropped from his sudden touch.
"We are honored as well to be training with you." Touya bowed and Shishi said nothing.
"Now that we have introductions out of the way, it's best if we rest first, we will begin training tomorrow morning." Shuichi said walking away. Chu started rambling on while Naota kept her eyes on Shuichi's back, still wondering if he's ok.
Will training go smoothly as planned? What's with Shuichi's sudden silent treatment? Will this be a rocky year for Naota and Shuichi or will there finally be some actual romantic development between them? Find out all this and more on Someone I can Love!
p.s. (I am so sorry if I screw up Chu's accent, it's very hard to write accents, its fine if someone mentions it but please can someone tell me how to write it correctly?)